CUC board approves $2.5 million bid for new office renovations

By unanimous vote, the Corbin City Utilities Commission (CUC) Board of Directors approved a $2.5 million bid package Tuesday from a Somerset firm to completely gut and renovate the utility’s new office, which will be relocated on Cumberland Falls Hwy.

Robert Enterprises, Inc., of Somerset, provided the lowest bid on the project and was one of four bidders on the project.
Among the contractors who submitted bids for the project included Roberts Construction, Messer Construction, McKnight and Associates and Denham-Blythe Company. Three of the highest bids were within $41,000 of each other but Roberts Construction was the lowest bidder with a lump sum bid of $2,534,000.00. With the renovation of the new Corbin City Utilities offices expected to cost anywhere from $2.5 to $3.5, officials were pleasantly surprised that bids came in at the low end of the estimates.

"Roberts Construction appeared to be the most interested bidder," CUC’s General Manager Ron Herd said. "They made several trips here to plan for the project."

To pay for construction, Herd said that they would use money garnered from the sale of CUC’s current offices and surplus buildings, as well as from the utility’s ample surplus fund and loans. 

"I think we can sell some of our current property and get a pretty good amount of money from it to help offset what we are spending," Herd explained.

Herd contended that the CUC would save approximately $18,500 if they chose to reduce the current tiling style in the plans to a more standard type. He concluded that the original roofing on the new building needed to be removed due to leaks. He also said that continuing construction without the removal of the old roof would be purposeless because the current insulation is damaged.

The offices will be located in the old Falls Ford Auto Group building, located off Cumberland Falls Hwy. The property contains three buildings that will be used for offices, storage and maintenance areas. The property’s three buildings
have about 38,000 square feet of space under roof. Renovations will include new heating and air among many other new additions.

CUC bought the property in June 2008 for $2.35 million. Of the purchase price, $1,997,500 was financed. The remainder was paid from the utility’s $4 million reserve fund.

CUC purchased its current main facility from Cumberland Valley Rural Electric Cooperative in 1966 for $75,000.

Construction is expected to begin on the news offices in a month to six weeks after a contract has been signed with Robert Enterprises.

CUC serves 6,318 water, 4,293 sewer and 4,037 electric customers. It has an annual budget of about $9 million and employs 34 full-time workers.